Mike,
I just visited the Elections Department today, and according to their published election calendar and what they told me verbally, the date you list here is incorrect. August 19 (at noon) is the deadline for FREE ballot arguments; the deadline for the PAID arguments is noon on August 26 (this is also the deadline for rebuttals to the free arguments).
Also of note are the deadlines for registering to vote in the October recall election (September 22) and the deadline to vote in the regular November election (October 20).
My suggestion is that we try to prepare any arguments we plan to file by the 19th, and see whether we win the lottery to be selected as the official opposition for any of these measures. Then if any of our argument(s) are not selected, we have another week to look at paying to put them on the ballot.
By the way, why do you oppose the "rainy day fund" measure? I haven't yet looked at the language, but as reported in the media it didn't sound unreasonable on the face of it, although when Tom Ammiano comes up with an economic proposal it certainly bears close scrutiny.
The police commission measure appears to me to be a positive (although weak) reform.
The letter designations, title or brief description, and (in parenthesis) proponents/sponsors of the SF ballot measures is as follows:
A $295 million school bond issue (SFUSD Superintendant Arlene Ackerman)
B Increased retirement benefits (Board of Supervisors)
C Empowers Controller as Services Auditor, sets performance standards (Board)
D Creates Small Business Commission (Board)
E Ethics reform (Board)
F Targeted early retirement (Board)
G "Rainy day" fund (Board)
H Police Commission/Office of Citizen Complaints (Board)
I Child care for low income families (Supervisors Ma, Maxwell, Dufty & Daly)
J Homeless facilities (Angela Alioto)
K Reauthorization of transportation sales tax
L Minimum wage increase (Barry Hermanson, Alexis Gonzalez)
M Ban on "aggressive solicitation" (Gavin Newsom)
N Allow taxi permit holders with disabilities to keep permits and not drive (Supervisors Sandoval, McGoldrick, Ma, & Daly)
Yours in liberty,
<<< Starchild >>>
The Denny for Mayor Campaign would like to share the cost of writing a ballot argument against the School Bond measure on this November’s ballot. It must be submitted by August 19th and the cost is $200 plus $2 per word (300 word max). My campaign is submitting two arguments, one against the Small Business Commission, the “Rainy Day Fund”, and I’m considering one against Gavin’s Aggressive Solicitation Ban. See the attached list of all the ballot measures. Perhaps there are others that could be addressed…Retirement Benefits for Safety Employees, Early Retirement Benefits, Police Commission, Reauthorizing Sales and Use tax come to mind. Pew!
Let me know.
Mike
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